‘Can you give my dad back?’: A Missouri family says a father was detained by ICE, and his daughter recorded a message asking for his return

A video shared by a Missouri mother shows her young daughter crying while delivering what the mother described as a message to the ICE agents involved in detaining her husband, according to The Nerd Stash. “Can you give my dad back?” the girl asks. “Please? Give my dad back. I need him,” she says, crying and coughing as she struggles to finish.

The mother wrote that her husband is “legal” and “did everything the correct way.” His sister, in a GoFundMe post seeking money for his legal case, wrote that Luis has lived in the U.S. since he was two years old and is married with six children. She said he has “a valid work permit and a pending I-130,” and that the family is “heartbroken and confused” about why he was detained while working.

Those details don’t independently establish his current immigration status or explain the legal basis for his detention, and an official account from ICE describing the reason for the detention could not be located.

What a pending I-130 actually does and doesn’t do

Form I-130 is a USCIS petition, typically filed by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, establishing a qualifying family relationship for a relative seeking a green card. On its own, a pending I-130 doesn’t grant any immigration status or protection from removal. It’s a preliminary step that can take months or years to resolve.

ICE has previously acknowledged that a pending I-130 offering an “immediate basis for relief” is a factor it can weigh in deciding whether to continue removal proceedings, though it isn’t a guarantee against detention. Someone taken into ICE custody generally has the right to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge, where factors like flight risk, community ties and family relationships are considered.

Immigration attorneys note that a detained spouse of a U.S. citizen with a pending family petition and no serious criminal history is often considered to have a stronger case for release at that hearing, though outcomes vary by jurisdiction and judge. Families in this position generally have a few concrete options. ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System lets relatives, attorneys and the public search for someone in custody using their name, birth date and country of birth.

Beyond the bond hearing itself, a detained person can, through an attorney, file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. That asks a federal district court, rather than an immigration court, to review whether the detention itself is lawful. Whether any of these steps have been taken in Luis’s case hasn’t been reported.

The GoFundMe has raised more than $5,000 toward a $6,000 goal. The family says the money will go toward legal representation and efforts to secure his release, including at the bond hearing.